Executive Brand Solutions at DDB Mudra Group
May 2015 – Dec 2017 | Mumbai (2 yrs 8 mos) DDB Mudra is one of India’s largest creative agency networks, part of the DDB Worldwide group. This is where I developed the core of my strategic and client management craft — working across high-profile FMCG and retail accounts under sustained delivery pressure.
- Analysed market trends and consumer behaviour to support brand growth strategies for retail sector and FMCG campaigns — contributing directly to increased brand penetration for major accounts.
- Managed large cross-functional teams in campaign execution — creative, media, production, activation — delivering brand experiences that consistently exceeded client satisfaction benchmarks.
- Built long-term client partnerships through a consultative approach: translating business objectives into communication strategy and ensuring strategic coherence through execution.
- Won industry recognition across three major award bodies (Kyoorius, OAC Outdoor Asia, WOW Awards Asia) for the Western Union Nazar-E-Mecca campaign — awarded for use of technology, activation, and audio-visual solution.
What this role developed: The rigour of consultative client management at scale. The ability to hold a strategic thread across a multi-month campaign while managing day-to-day complexity across functions.
The Ground-Level View: The Mudra House Ping Pong
DDB Mudra Group in Mumbai, a six-story, LEED Gold-certified “green” building, ironically, is anything but zen on the inside.
I spent nearly three years as a “strategic ping pong ball,” bouncing between the floors that housed Mainline, Digital (22feet Tribal), and Experiential (Mudra Max). In an industry that loves to silo people into “specialisms,” I chose to exploit the architecture of the building itself. I worked in all three verticals at various points, treating the atrium not just as a space for smoke-break networking, but as the integration layer for brand survival.
My time there was defined by the Western Union Nazar-E-Mecca campaign, a project that forced me to reconcile a deeply rooted once ina life time experience with ground-level activation. It was here that I realized the “Big Idea” is a myth unless it can survive the transition between dimensions. This was the birth of my Multi-Level Perspective on brands: understanding that a campaign must function simultaneously as a digital signal, a mainline narrative, and a physical experience to achieve efficiency for the client.
Awards & Recognition
- Blue Elephant — Use of Technology | Kyoorius 2017 | Western Union Nazar-E-Mecca | DDB Mudra
- Finalist — Effie Awards 2016 | Western Union | DDB Mudra
- Gold — Activation Category | OAC Outdoor Asia 2017 | Western Union | DDB Mudra
- Bronze — On-Ground Promotion of the Year, Sales Volume | WOW Awards Asia 2017 | Western Union | DDB Mudra
- Bronze — Achievement in Audio-Visual Solution | WOW Awards Asia 2017 | DDB Mudra